Straphangers have another accessible option in Long Island City, as the MTA announced the opening of an additional elevator Thursday at the Queensboro Plaza subway station serving the No. 7, N and W lines.
“We’re all here because accessibility is a major goal for the MTA,” said Jamie Torres-Springer, the agency’s head of construction and development.
The Long Island City station received its first batch of elevators late last year on the south side of the station, a $74 million project.
The elevator announced Thursday is on the station’s northern end.
“The redundant elevator gives customers who require a stair-free path of travel a much easier way into the system without having to traverse busy Queens Plaza,” Torres-Springer said.
Unlike the elevators installed last year, the northern elevator that opened on Thursday was built by private developer Grubb Properties at no cost to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Grubb is the developer behind 25-01 Queens Plaza North, which sits adjacent to the station. The elevator was built by Grubb as part of the city’s “Zoning for Accessibility” program, and it is the first such project to be completed.
“This is a great model, it’s truly win-win,” Torres-Springer said.
As with other subway elevators built by private entities, the new one at Queensboro Plaza will be maintained by the developer, not the MTA — an arrangement that the MTA and others have acknowledged can to lead to more frequent outages.
MTA spokeswoman Kayla Shults said Thursday that the transit agency’s agreement with Grubb Properties included “extensive provisions detailing the developer’s responsibility to maintain the elevator,” and that Grubb is required to respond to any outages — and notify the MTA of the issue — within two hours.
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